PRACTICE TEST 1

SECTION A: VOCABULARY AND STRUCTURES

I. Select the best option for each sentence.
1. To the west of the country ……………… a large desert.
A. increases B. extends C. stretches D. widens
2. I don't agree with you, but your idea certainly gives me food ………………
A. for fun B. for thought C. for consider D. for thinking
3.It seems to be your boss who is ……………… fault in this case.
A. under B. at C. with D. for
4. Ever since he married Jane, he's had a new ……………… on life.
A. rent B. loan C. title D. lease
5. I love this painting of an old man. He has such a ……………… smile.
A. childhood B. childish C. childless D. childlike
6. The door hinges had all been oiled to stop them ………………
A. squeaking B. screeching C. shrieking D. squealing
7. You are under no obligation ……………… to accept this offer.
A. indeed B. eventually C. apart D. whatsoever
8. When the electricity failed, he …… a match to find the candles.
A. rubbed B. scratched C. struck D. started
9. I usually buy my clothes ……………… . It’s cheaper than going to the dressmaker.
A. on the house B. off the peg C. in public D. on the shelf
10. We were ……………… by the officers' decision to divert the whole traffic from the main route.
A. rambled B. baffled C. stumbled D. shuffled
11. The book says that the revolution was ……………… off by the assassination of the state governor.
A. launched B. cropped C. triggered D. prompted
12. The hijackers have demanded a ……………… to be paid for releasing the civilian hostages from
the plane.
A. currency B. revenue C. deposit D. ransom
13. He ………………. work and cannot possibly see you now.
A. is up to his ears in B. shuts his ears to
C. has a good ear for D. makes a pig’s ear of
14. She was kept awake for most of the night by the ……………… of a mosquito in her car.
A. whine B. moan C. groan D. screech
15. He looks very aggressive and threatening, and so his soft, gentle voice is rather……………… .
A. disembodied B. disconcerting C. dismissive D. discordant

II. Give the correct form of the words in brackets.

Complaining can be used constructively, for example to draw attention to inefficiency but all
too often in western society it consists of (1.SOCIAL) _______________ moaning and groaning
which leads to (2.TRUST) _______________ and unnecessary arguments within relationships.
So it is refreshing to live in a society where people do not complain. Kiribati consists of thirty-
three small islands located in the Central Pacific. By western standards, the islanders’ diet is plain
and (3.MONOTONY) _______________, but, thanks to plentiful fish, none of the islanders suffer
from (4.NUTRIENT) _______________. Feasts are popular social occasions, but if the fish is (5.DO)
_______________ or the rice proves to be (6.EDIBILITY) _______________, nobody complains.
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Similarly, in restaurants, if the waiter brings the wrong dish or the bill is (7.CALCULATE)
_______________, the error is pointed out with a calm smile, not a surly frown. Ships frequently
leave hours later than scheduled, yet the passengers wait with none of the signs of impatience
which would be loudly evident elsewhere.
Other traits of the Kiribati people complement this (8.INCLINE) _______________ to complain.
Teachers find it difficult to get their pupils to answer questions in class because it is culturally
unacceptable to show yourselves to be better than those around you. Competition is not exactly
frowned upon in this society, but it is refreshingly (9.CHARACTER) _______________.Western
tennis stars, well-known for their immodest behaviour on court, could learn a lot from one young
(10.FINAL) _______________ here who, despite being the better player, deliberately lost the
match as his opponent was an older and more respected member of the village.

III. Read the text below and look carefully at each line. Some of the lines are correct, and some
have a word which should not be there. If a line is correct, put a tick ( P) by the number. If a line
has a word which should not be there, write the word out. There are three examples at the
beginning.
HIBERNATION SYNDROME
I don’t know about you, but come to the winter months, my body 0: ………to……….
seems to require more sleep than in summer and I’m definitely at 0: ………P………..
my happiest when I’m being curled up in a hedgehog-style ball. 0: …… being…...
“Wanting to sleep more in the winter is not natural and nothing to 1:…………………….
worry about, unless you are sleeping for more than 12 hours a 2:…………………….
day,” says sleep expert Dr James B Maas. The reason for we feel 3:…………………….
drowsy has as much to do with our biochemistry as it does so with 4:…………………….
wanting to sniggle up like a couch potato indoors. “It’s all to do 5: ……………………
with melatonin,” explains Dr Maas, “a hormone with which is 6:…………………….
secreted by the brain’s pineal gland in response to darkness”. They 7:…………………….
may feel more sleepy, but as many people find getting to sleep 8:…………………….
in winter is a problem. It’s hardly surprising. When lounging 9:…………………….
around indoors drinking mugs of warming up coffee and snacking 10:…………………..
on chocolate bars doesn’t always prepare you for a good 11:……………………
night’s rest. If you do have trouble nodding off, Deepak Chopra 12:……………………
has this tip. “Try a soothing mix of the sweet and sour 13:……………………
essential oils, such as orange, geranium and clove are mixed with 14:……………………
almond oil and rubbed it on to your forehead just before bedtime.” 15:……………………

IV. Fill in each of the gaps with the correct preposition or particle.
The show was fully booked (1) …………………. for weeks, and when it opened last night, the
public poured (2) …………………. and very soon the London Arts Center was packed (3) …………………. .
But why? What did they come to see? They came to see human beings take (4) …………………. circus
animals, men in cat suits who stood (5) …………………. for real lions and tigers. The show was put (6)
…………………. by its creators to protest (7) …………………. traditional circuses and to send a message
about cruelty to animals. The show was timed to tie (8) …………………. with the National Protection
of Animals Week. It was a good idea, but the standard of the performances was third-rate and an
embarrassing number of people simply walked (9) …………………. before it ended. There were some
amusing moments when the performers sent (10) …………………. typical circus folks, but overall it

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was a dismal show. Despite the large turnout for the show’s first night, I doubt it will attract many
people during the rest of its seven-day run.

SECTION B: READING
I. Chose the words that best complete the sentences in the text.
A GREAT COMPOSER
The classical composer Ernst Hoffsberger, who passed away earlier this week, truly 1.______ the
world of contemporary classical music and was a great source of inspiration to a whole generation
of 2._______young artists in various fields. In many ways his three symphonies completely
3.______ the achievements of all other composers of the late twentieth century and by 4.______
the classical genre with jazz, rock and latterly hip-hop, his work at times bore little 5.______ to
what is commonly considered to be a classical sound. Born in California just after the Second
World War, Hoffsberger had a strict religious upbringing during which he was taught classical piano
by his father. He first found work as a(n) 6._______ journalist, playing and composing music in his
free time. During the late sixties, he worked together in collaboration with a number of other
amateur musicians before finally 7._______ professional with the first public performance of his
inspirational Tenor Sax Concerto in 1971. From then on, throughout the seventies and eighties,
each new work seemed to 8. _______ the limits of the orchestral medium and also helped to bring
classical music to a wider audience. What many people consider Hoffsberger's defining quality that
kept his music fresh and original was that he never lost the human 9._______ which gave him the
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ability to sit down and jam with musicians and artists from all 10._______ of life.
mcc

1. A. revolutionised B. restored C. renovated D. refurbished

2. A. branching B. budding C. blooming D. bursting
3. A. overcame B. overshadowed C. overturned D. overwhelmed
4. A. adjoining B. attaching C. co-joining D. fusing
5. A. similarity B. familiarity C. resemblance D. identification
6. A. non-contract B. off-the-books C. freelance D. odd-job
7. A. taking B. getting C. making D. turning
8. A. overpass B. bypass C. surpass D. encompass
9. A. touch B. feeling C. contact D. aspect
10. A. signs B. walks C. paces D. aspects

II. Choose the most appropriate heading from the list A–H for each part (1–6) of the article.
There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. An example is given.

A RESEARCH HOLDS THE KEY TO SUCCESS

B NEW AND IMPROVED TECHNIQUES
C A NEW KIND OF ATHLETE
D NEW EQUIPMENT HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE
E ATHLETES ARE WHAT THEY EAT
F PERSONALIZED PROGRAMMES WILL HELP
G THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS
H IS THERE A LIMIT TO RECORD-BREAKING?

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 RECORD-BREAKERS
0–H
A world record is every athlete’s dream, but the hard-won records of a few years ago are mostly
just today’s qualifying times. Roger Bannister’s famous four-minute mile of 1956 has been beaten
by nearly 15 seconds, while almost an hour and twenty minutes has been taken off the women’s
marathon since. 1953. ‘Faster, higher, stronger’, is the Olympic motto, and today’s competitors
continue to push back the boundaries of what the body can achieve. But one wonders if this can
continue.
1–
The last forty years have seen many important technological advances. For example, since the
introduction of strong, flexible fibreglass poles, over a metre has been added to the pole vault
record. There have also been important developments in the design of the running shoe. And
while a shoe won’t actually make someone run faster, modern shoes do mean many more miles of
comfortable, injury-free training.
2–
Pushing back the limits now depends more on science, technology and medicine than anything
else. Athletic technique, training programmes and diets are all being studied to find ways of taking
a few more seconds off or adding a few more centimetres to that elusive world record. It seems
that natural ability and hard work are no longer enough.
3–
The search to find more efficient ways of moving goes on. Analysis of an athlete’s style is
particularly useful for events like jumping and throwing. Studies show that long jumpers need to
concentrate not on the speed of approach, as once thought, but on the angle their bodies make
with the ground as they take off. However, the rules governing each sport limit advances achieved
by new styles. For instance only one-footed takeoffs are allowed in the high jump.
4–
In the future, it should be possible to develop a more individual approach to training programmes.
Athletes will keep detailed diaries and collect data to help predict the point when training
becomes overtraining, the cause of many injuries. If athletes feed all their information into a
database, it may then be possible to predict patterns and to advise them individually when they
should cut down.
5–
Combining the right diet with a training programme is vital. Athletes are continually searching for
that special ‘go-faster’ ingredient, but apparently it’s still a battle to get them to drink sufficient
liquid and to follow a balanced healthy diet throughout all phases of training, competition and
recovery. Diet in the period after an event is particularly important and often neglected. An athlete
who doesn’t replace all the liquid lost immediately after a hard run won’t be able to repeat the
performance at the same level 24 hours later.
6–
So what of the future? It is no secret that many records are not authentic and with the tightening
of drugs controls, performances may actually decline, particularly in events like the shot putt and
discus. The throwers of the future will be ‘clean’ and smaller and will pay more attention to
technique and less to strength.

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III. Read the passage and choose the correct answer.
For many people who live in cities, parks are an important part of the landscape. They
provide a place for people to relax and play sports, as well as a refuge from the often harsh
environment of a city. What people often overlook is that parks also provide considerable
environmental benefits.
One benefit of parks is that plants absorb carbon dioxide—a key pollutant—and emit oxygen,
which humans need to breathe. According to one study, an acre of trees can absorb the same
amount of carbon dioxide that a typical car emits in 11,000 miles of driving. Parks also make cities
cooler. Scientists have long noted what is called the Urban Heat Island Effect: building materials
such as metal, concrete, and asphalt absorb much more of the sun’s heat and release it much
more quickly than organic surfaces like trees and grass. Because city landscapes contain so much
of these building materials, cities are usually warmer than surrounding rural areas. Parks and other
green spaces help to mitigate the Urban Heat Island Effect.
Unfortunately, many cities cannot easily create more parks because most land is already
being used for buildings, roads, parking lots, and other essential parts of the urban environment.
However, cities could benefit from many of the positive effects of parks by encouraging citizens to
create another type of green space: rooftop gardens. While most people would not think of
starting a garden on their roof, human beings have been planting gardens on rooftops for
thousands of years. Some rooftop gardens are very complex and require complicated engineering,
but others are simple container gardens that anyone can create with the investment of a few
hundred dollars and a few hours of work.
Rooftop gardens provide many of the same benefits as other urban park and garden spaces,
but without taking up the much-needed land. Like parks, rooftop gardens help to replace carbon
dioxide in the air with nourishing oxygen. They also help to lessen the Urban Heat Island Effect,
which can save people money. In the summer, rooftop gardens prevent buildings from absorbing
heat from the sun, which can significantly reduce cooling bills. In the winter, gardens help hold in
the heat that materials like brick and concrete radiate so quickly, leading to savings on heating
bills. Rooftop vegetable and herb gardens can also provide fresh food for city dwellers, saving
them money and making their diets healthier. Rooftop gardens are not only something everyone
can enjoy, they are also a smart environmental investment.
1. Based on its use in paragraph 2, it can be inferred that mitigate belongs to which of the following
word groups?
A. exacerbate, aggravate, intensify B. obliterate, destroy, annihilate
C. allay, alleviate, reduce D. absorb, intake, consume
2. Using the information in paragraph 2 as a guide, it can be inferred that ..................
A. cities with rooftop gardens are cooler than those without rooftop gardens
B. some plants are not suitable for growth in rooftop gardens
C. most people prefer parks to rooftop gardens
D. most people prefer life in the country over life in the city
3. According to the passage, the Urban Heat Island Effect is caused by the fact(s) that .....................
a. cities are warmer than nearby rural areas
b. building materials absorb more of the sun’s heat than organic surfaces
c. building materials release the sun’s heat more quickly than organic surfaces
A. a. only B. a. and b. only C. b. and c. only D. a., b., and c.

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4. Based on the information in paragraph 3, which of the following best describes the main
difference between parks and rooftop gardens?
A. Parks are expensive to create while rooftop gardens are not.
B. Parks are public while rooftop gardens are private.
C. Parks absorb heat while rooftop gardens do not.
D. Parks require much space while rooftop gardens do not.
5. The author claims all of the following to be the benefits of rooftop gardens except ..................
A. increased space for private relaxation B. savings on heating and cooling costs
C. better food for city dwellers D. improved air quality
6. According to the author, one advantage that rooftop gardens have over parks is that they
....................
A. decrease the Urban Heat Island Effect
B. replenish the air with nourishing oxygen
C. do not require the use of valuable urban land
D. are less expensive than traditional park spaces
7. The author’s tone in the passage is best described as .....................
A. descriptive B. passionate C. informative D. argumentative
8. Which of the following pieces of information would, if true, most weaken the author's claim that
rooftop gardens are good for the environment?
A. Parks have many benefits that rooftop gardens do not share.
B. More pollution is produced during rooftop garden construction than rooftop plants can
remove from the air.
C. Extremely high winds atop tall city buildings can severely damage some plants.
D. The overall environmental benefits that result from driving less exceed those of planting a
rooftop garden.
9. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
A. A hypothesis is stated and then analyzed.
B. A proposal is evaluated and alternatives are explored.
C. A viewpoint is established and then defended.
D. A thesis is presented and then supported.
10. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely endorse a program that
...........................
A. permitted the construction of buildings in city park land provided they have rooftop
gardens
B. extended discounts on plants to customers who use them to create rooftop gardens
C. offered free admission to schools willing to take their students on field trips to the city
park
D. promised vacation getaways to cooler destinations for those trapped in the city
at the peak of summer

SECTION C: WRITING
For each of the sentences below, write a new sentence as similar as possible in meaning to the
original sentence, but using the word given. This word must not be altered in any way.
1. Peter grimaced as he swallowed the foul-tasting medicine. (PULLED)
→ Peter ……………………………………………………………….the foul-tasting medicine.

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2. What he told me made me very curious to hear the rest of the story. (APPETITE)
→ What he told me ………………………………………………………………………….. the story.
3. I'm so sorry, I didn't realise it was so late. (TRACK)
→ Sorry, I ............................................................................ time.
4. I’d be grateful if you could have a look at these figures. (CAST)
→ I’d be grateful if you could …………………………………………….. these figures.
5. You have said exactly the right thing. (NAIL)
→ You have …………………………………………………………………………………..
6. They’ve been having discussions on the issue for over two weeks. (PROGRESS)
→ Discussions ……………………………………………………………. for over two weeks.
7. It won’t harm us to see what special offers are on at the moment. (AS)
→ We might ………………………………………………………………..…… on at the moment.
8. Would you mind if I asked you to sign this petition? (RAISE)
→ Would you …………………………………………………………….. asking you to sign this petition?
9. Mike is never reluctant to make tough decisions as a manager. (SHRINKS)
→ Mike never.........................................................................................................
10. I may not have my problem solved, but at least I know I’m doing correctly. (TRACK)
→ I may not have my problem solved, but ……………………………………………………….

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